Non-governmental organizations helping war victims in the territory of the Volyn province: creation and activity (1914 – 1916)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the issue of the creation and activities of public organizations to assist war victims in the Volyn province in 1914-1916, which provides an opportunity to draw certain analogies with the present. It is noted that the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war became a serious test for the state and led to the emergence of a mass volunteer, charitable movement, which testifies to the high level of civic maturity and patriotism of Ukrainian society. The attention is focused on the fact that the First World War caused a surge in public charity and the emergence of an extensive network of various charitable organizations, whose activities were aimed at providing assistance to soldiers and civilians who suffered from the consequences of the war. During 1914-1916, branches of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, the All-Russian Union of Cities, the Russian Red Cross Society, charitable societies, church parishes of various denominations, public organizations of national minorities: Polish, Jewish, Czech, operated in the territory of the Volyn province. It is noted that the historical experience of charity of the Great War is relevant today, since modern society has faced similar problems. The research methodology is based on both general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction) and special historical (historical-typological, historical-systemic) methods in compliance with the principles of historicism, objectivity, scientificity, and systematicity. The scientific novelty of the work is the comprehensive and thorough conduct of research on the topic of creating public charitable organizations to help war victims in the Volyn province at the initial stage of the First World War. Conclusions. The First World War determined the emergence of charitable organizations, whose activities were aimed at implementing the issue of medical and social rehabilitation of wounded soldiers, providing assistance to refugees from the war zone and families of mobilized fighters. The study of historical experience can be used to build a flexible system that consolidates state, charitable, secular and religious types of assistance.